Tuesday, June 8, 2010

If the Rockies were an NCAA basketball team trying to get in the Big Dance, they would be firmly planted on the outside. They wouldn't even be on the bubble. Not when the number of terrible losses outnumber the quality wins by so much.

File tonight under the terrible loss column.

The team is going to play better as the seaon moves along. I truly believe the offense will improve and those badly needed clutch hits will start coming. I'm hopeful the pitching can continue being awesome.

The problem: You can't take back these losses to teams you have to beat. Once you lose to them it's on your record... and they're still going to be on your record when August and September come around.

Another problem: The three teams you're chasing -- San Diego, San Francisco and Los Angeles -- are all winning the games they should win. Help isn't coming from the outside. That means the Rockies have to start helping themselves more, and there's more pressure on them to win the majority of their games against those three teams.
If the past is any indication, that is an extreme longshot to happen. They may be able to hang tough with those team in direct competition, but they're getting in to a position where that won't be good enough. They're going to have to beat them consistently.

Horrendous. To jump out on a pitcher and opponent 3-0 in the first and then completely let them off the hook is inexcusable and unacceptable. This wasn't freaking Dan Haren coming back out to the mound and settling down. It's Brian Moehler.

The offense didn't exactly mail it in from that point on, they had traffic, but geez, the RISP ABs were atrocious. Against Houston. Against Arizona. Against Los Angeles. It doesn't matter who you're playing, you can't consistently fail in those spots and expect to win.

Even the worst teams can find ways to steal those games from you. I don't know how many more times we need to see that this season to drive the point home. Personally, I've seen enough of it.

I'm seriously at the point now where I want to see Don Baylor go just because this team needs something. It always seems to need that spark, which is a scary thing, but if someone needs to go, there's no better guy than the one coaching the aspect of your team that has consistently underperformed since Opening Day.

Looking Ahead

The Rockies bats better snap out of it tomorrow against 1-7 Felipe Paulino, because another matchup with Roy Oswalt comes on Thursday. And they won't be countering Oswalt with Jimenez this time.